Mr. Speaker, on March 30 I had the honour of attending the official opening of the Eastern Kings Memorial Community Health Centre in my riding of Annapolis Valley-Hants.

This hospital has worked hard to ensure that its doors remained open during the province's health care reform exercise. Due to the tenacity and the strong will of the people of Wolfville and the surrounding area, this centre will stay open. In fact, it has become the first community health centre to open under Nova Scotia's reformed health system. It will continue to deliver first class primary health care to the people of Eastern Kings county.

I would like all members of Parliament to join me in congratulating all of the volunteers and the staff who have worked so hard to make this happen. They have truly made their community a better place.

Mr. Speaker, as the 1996 summer Olympics are quickly approaching I would like to congratulate Nancy Sweetnam of Lindsay, Ontario in qualifying for the games in Atlanta.

Nancy recently qualified for the 400 individual medley event in swimming at the time trials in Montreal. She had an excellent year at the World Cup swim meets in Europe where she grabbed four gold medals and a silver. This will mark the second time she has been to the Olympics as she competed in the 1992 Barcelona summer games. Due to her recent success at the World Cup swim meets, it appears Nancy is peaking at the right time, heading into the Olympics.

Congratulations and good luck, Nancy. The people of Victoria-Haliburton and the rest of Canada wish you all the best in your quest for gold.

Mr. Speaker, I want to tell the House about a great youth project in my riding of St. Catharines. It is a Youth Services Canada project sponsored by the Niagara Regional Police Service.

Fifteen young people worked with the Niagara police to promote community safety and crime prevention while learning work related skills. These young people worked in classroom and community settings. They visited malls, schools and seniors' homes to promote community safety with projects like Neighbourhood Watch, Lock It or Lose it and Combat Auto Theft.

They also improved their life and work skills through education in first aid, problem solving, team building, budgeting, writing résumés, job interviews and more.

The young people say they have gained greater self-esteem, self-confidence, people skills and an opportunity to succeed. This project is a great example of government, police and young Canadians working together to make their communities better and giving youth vital skills for the future.

Congratulations to Chief Waddell, project co-ordinator Constable Tim Whittle, everyone at the Niagara Regional Police Service and the 15 young people on a job well done.

Mr. Speaker, this week we are celebrating National Soil Conservation Week. Healthy soil is an essential component of a healthy environment and is a foundation on which sustainable agriculture is built.

The Soil Conservation Council of Canada was formed 10 years ago to promote the preservation and enrichment of Canada's soil and water resources for the benefit of present and future generations. Half of its current board members are farmers, including newly elected president, Gerry Willerth of Indian Head, Saskatche-

wan. They form a coalition of producer driven, soil and water conservation organizations in each province with all stakeholders contributing funding toward public education, research and program evaluation.

The Government of Canada, through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, conducts research and actively supports initiatives for soil conservation. Much progress has been made in halting and reversing soil degradation.

National Soil Conservation Week helps to focus attention on this important issue which affects us all.

Mr. Speaker, there is a seething rage developing in the province of British Columbia as once again British Columbians feel that the Government of Canada is ignoring their concerns.

Today representatives of over 500,000 people living in coastal communities say that the Mifflin plan fails to address the serious concerns of the west coast fishery.

I ask particularly the parliamentary secretary to the minister of fisheries and Liberal members from British Columbia to stand up for the concerns of British Columbians and not be a sop of the government in British Columbia. Your job here is to represent B.C.

Mr. Speaker, 1996 marks the 50th anniversary of the Fédération des caisses populaires de l'Ontario. Over the years, the francophone community of Ontario has built its own network of credit unions. Today, the federation has 42 branches and 65 outlets to serve its members. Some 200,000 Franco-Ontarians have joined the co-operative movement and the network as a whole administers total assets of $1.6 billion.

The members of the caisse populaires have obviously created a powerful development tool that reflects their dreams and aspirations. Throughout the year, several cultural, co-operative and community activities organized in partnership with local organizations will mark the federation's 50th anniversary. This is a fine example of the vitality of Ontario's many francophone communities.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance recently stated in the House that the Reform budget "had reductions in transfer payments to the provinces that made ours look like a peanut hill. They were enormous". This statement is false.

The Reform Party had proposed a cut of $3.5 billion in provincial transfers for health, welfare and higher education and $3 billion in equalization payments. The Liberal budget projects a cut of $7 billion on social program transfers. The Liberal budget exceeds the Reform cuts by $500 million.

I ask the minister: where is the peanut hill? Why these misrepresentations? Is it lack of information, carelessness or a deliberate political tactic?

Mr. Speaker, the need to unite Canadians is at the heart pf the CBC's mandate. The president of the CBC, Perrin Beatty, said so himself.

The sole mandate of the CBC is to reflect as faithfully as possible the reality of Canada and Quebec. The CBC acts as a witness who sees, hears and reports on what is happening.

Turning this witness into one that manipulates reality to bring communities closer together is a serious departure from the mandate of the CBC and has reduced this institution to a propaganda tool serving a single ideology, namely Canadian unity.

The Bloc Quebecois objects to such a change in mandate and would like the president and chief executive officer of the CBC to either clarify his remarks or take them back. The CBC is made up of two independent networks, each responding to the needs of its audience. It is unacceptable for their mandate to be subject to the dictates of the ruling party.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Bloc Quebecois, I wish to express our profound indignation about and strong disapproval of the massacre at Qana, in southern Lebanon, in which some 100 civilians were killed and another 100 wounded.

This slaughter of civilians in a refugee camp under UN protection, which resulted from the Israeli army's actions, is more massive than the one that resulted from the February 1994 attack on the Sarajevo market.

Israel must immediately stop the bloodshed, which seriously sullies its honour and undermines the credibility of its cause.

There was another exchange of fire last night between Israel and Hezbollah. The toll of the Israeli operation is reported to have reached more than 151 dead, most of them civilians, and close to 300 wounded. This massacre must end. We urge both sides to respond to the international community's call for an immediate ceasefire.

Mr. Speaker, since February, western Canadians have been given the opportunity to fly at bargain basement prices. While West Jet fights the competition in the skies, this Liberal government has launched an attack from the ground.

On March 22 the fledgling West Jet was forced, at great expense, to comply to a so-called Transport Canada safety rule written years ago. All airlines operating in western Canada were forced to give safety instructions in both languages.

Three air carriers asked for one-year extensions. Transport Canada refused. "If you do not have flight attendants with French language capabilities, hire them or get sound equipment," came the edict.

If the urgency was all about safety, why was it not important enough to be implemented when it was first drafted six years ago? Did the flying public request the second language rule? No, it came from the police of official languages here in Ottawa.

A pilot from Transport Canada informed me this week the edict had nothing to do with safety.

Mr. Speaker, over 600 federalist residents of the Outaouais met last night in the small town of Low to reiterate their deep attachment to Quebec and Canada.

Many such rallies have been held across Canada since the October 30 referendum. Citizens from all over the country are mobilizing to help resolve the constitutional crisis fuelled by Quebec separatists.

All these groups are sending a clear message. They want a united Canada and fervently hope that Quebec will remain part of it.

I commend the initiative taken by all these people seeking peaceful, unifying solutions and I can assure them that my government will do all it can to meet their legitimate expectations.

Mr. Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to point out that this is Quebec week for retail trade.

The retail industry is a key player in Quebec's economic development. It is currently estimated that over 500,000 Quebecers work in that very aggressive and competitive sector.

Annual sales in the wholesale and retail sector exceed $50 billion, or slightly more than 12 per cent of Quebec's GDP.

Over the last few days, various activities and events took place throughout the province to celebrate the week for retail trade. I join promoters, participants and customers in congratulating entrepreneurs who constantly strive to provide quality products to enhance the well-being of consumers.

Mr. Speaker, on March 30, the Minister of Health announced that a study would be conducted on raw milk cheese to see if these products should be banned. The decision is based on the fact that bacteria caused the death of a Swiss citizen 60 years ago.

Milk producers are going through tough times. They just lost their federal subsidies and, in addition to that, they must fight with the Americans over import tariffs.

What the Liberals are proposing will make the transition even harder, particularly in Quebec, the principal homeland of cheese.

This measure makes no sense at all. What is next? Will the minister propose that cheese be registered, just like firearms?

Despite the latest ultimatum given the Department of National Defence Monday by counsel for the Somalia inquiry, frustrated at having to beg for documents that never appear, we learn this morning that a number of essential documents have still not been produced, including the registers for the first and third commandos.

How does the minister explain the fact that, despite the 12 boxes that arrived five minutes before the deadline, key registers have still not been supplied at the request of the inquiry?

David CollenetteLiberalMinister of National Defence and Minister of Veterans Affairs

Mr. Speaker, two issues have to be addressed on the documentation question and one on the public affairs issue.

A counsel for the commission this morning said that they were satisfied that the department had produced all the relevant documents and that the subset of hearings within the general commission mandate can start on Wednesday.

With respect to the specific question of the hon. member on the Somalia related documents, there has been some considerable progress made on the logs and other documentation that came forward as a result of the search that was conducted under the auspices of the chief of defence staff.

The Somalia liaison team of the department is cataloguing that and will report to the commission. The commission is satisfied that the report, combined with testimony that will be given in subsequent hearings, will get to the bottom of the documentation issue.

Mr. Speaker, it is high time the minister stopped mocking everyone. He has been sweet talking the House for the past two and a half years. Nobody believes him anymore. Enough is enough.

Counsel made it clear this morning that gaps remained and documents were still missing. Would the minister explain why it takes so much effort and time and so many warnings and ultimatums for the department to deliver, bit by bit, some of the documents the commission of inquiry has repeatedly asked for? When exactly is the minister finally going to assume his responsibilities, for once?

David CollenetteLiberalMinister of National Defence and Minister of Veterans Affairs

Mr. Speaker, this minister and the government took its responsibility by setting up the Somalia commission specifically to deal with issues such as documentation.

There were documents altered. There were documents destroyed. Was there a cover-up? These are the matters on which the inquiry will get to the bottom.

What the commission asked us earlier in the week was to produce a cataloguing of the documents themselves. It said that they were dissatisfied at that point in time with the explanations of the department.

I think some real progress has been made. It has been reflected in what the commission counsel has said this morning. I understand the commission counsel has said that the documents which have come forward and which are now being catalogued in the report by the Somalia liaison team together with testimony under the auspices of the mandate of the commission will get to the bottom of it and will address the specific question of the hon. member.

Mr. Speaker, we were reminded this morning that the military police were told last fall by a second officer, who confirmed the statement of Colonel Haswell, that the army chief of staff along with other officers developed a plan to change the name of documents requested under the Access to Information Act.

As this new information considerably undermines the credibility of the minister and the chief of staff, why is the minister refusing to relieve General Boyle temporarily of his duties, at least for as long as it takes the commission of inquiry to thoroughly examine this whole sad affair and people to regain their trust in the army and the government?

David CollenetteLiberalMinister of National Defence and Minister of Veterans Affairs

Mr. Speaker, the answers to that specific question were given earlier this week in replies to questions put forward by members of the Reform Party. I will not take very much time of the House to go into that except to say that we in this country believe in due process. Due process means that people have a right to give their views, their side of a story to defend themselves against accusations.

On Wednesday the Somalia commission will start hearings on the specific issue. I would ask for patience because I think Canadians understand that all the answers will be forthcoming at the commission, not here in the House of Commons.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Finance confirmed that up to a billion dollars will be paid to the governments of the maritime provinces as compensation for their potential loss of tax receipts due to the process of harmonizing the GST and provincial taxes.

My question is for the Minister of Finance. Why does negotiating the harmonization of the GST with the sales tax in the maritime provinces require all Quebecers and all Canadians to foot the bill for a portion of the consumer taxes currently assumed by the people of the maritimes?

Mr. Speaker, as I said yesterday in response to the hon. member's question, there is no announcement yet. We are currently negotiating. I shall be pleased, if the negotiations are successful, to answer specific questions on the agreement, if one is reached.

Nevertheless, the hon. member will understand that I am going to defend the principle that the regions of this country must help each other. Otherwise, this would be a denial of such things as equalization, where three of this country's provinces help out the other seven.